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Flowers are laid, candles are lit and photographs of victims are traditionally put up at such ceremonies.

"We will be reading the names of victims, executed in Moscow during Stalin's era, announcing their age, profession and date of execution, from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. on October 29," Memorial's Executive Director Yelena Zhemkova told Interfax.

"The ceremony has been authorized. Not more than 500 participants can attend it at one time. There will not be viewers at the ceremony. Only participants," she said.

By tradition, the ceremony will be opened by Russia's Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin who will be the first to read out the names. The ceremony will be attended by guests from other cities and from abroad, among them European Parliament members, Zhemkova said.

The first Return of the Names ceremony was held in 2006.

About 30,000 people were executed in Moscow in the period of Stalin's terror in 1937-1938, according to Memorial.